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This article, about the City of Berwick skateboard track, was published in a journal in 1979. I don't know which journal, I only have the article and not the complete issue, but I presume a local government publication. The article is by Michael Backhouse, who was the City of Berwick Municipal Recreation Officer. The article says that the City of Berwick has recently constructed the first municipal skateboard facility of its type in Victoria at a cost of the project was $9,000. Mr Backhouse wrote that the first skateboard track in Australia built over three years ago at Albany in Western Australia is still being well used and indicates that skateboarding is more than a 'fad' This sorts of project was so rare that at the beginning of the project only limited design information was available and this only concerned the basic layout of tracks in New Zealand and a proposed track for Salisbury in South Australia, as Mr Backhouse wrote. The design was done by Charles Nichol and Graham Long of the City Engineer's Department and the work supervised by Robert Spark. Local skateboarders had input into the design who felt that the track should be able to be used by inexperienced riders, without being so easy that experienced riders would soon tire of it due to lack of challenge.The finished track was 28 metres long, beginning with a saucer shaped area 8 metres in diameter which turns into a 5 metre wide half pipe ending in a bowl 8 metres in diameter and 3 metres deep

A statue of Captain James Cook was unveiled in Endeavour Hills in November 1973 outside the first sales office on the corner of Joseph Banks Crescent and Heatherton Road (the building is now a medical centre). The statue was created by Marc Clark. The community newsletter, the Endeavour Gazette of March 30, 1974 reported that it was unveiled by Norman Banks, a descendant of Sir Joseph Banks, the Botanist on Cook's ship, the Endeavour. Mr Banks said that the 'face is modelled after the only two portraits for which Cook sat in person and there has been tremendous attention to detail in the uniform. His [Clark's] wife was the curator of costumes at the National Gallery of Victoria and had provided valuable aid to her husband in this respect'. Mr Paul Day, the Project Manager of Endeavour Hills said that the statue was the symbol of Endeavour Hills and he hoped that it would help develop a strong sense of local identity.

The statue was used on early sales brochures - this is from 1974A new sales office opened around July 1979 on the corner of Matthew Flinders Avenue and Monkhouse Drive. The statue was then moved from the original location to the new sales office in Matthew Flinders Drive. The Endeavour Hills Gazette of July 1979 reported that 'The statue of Captain James Cook has been moved to the new location and has been sited in a commanding position on a large area of undulating ground which has been sown to lawn'.

The statue remained outside the sales office building, even though it ceased being a sales office around 1993 and was leased out to a Radiology group. In March 1996, the building and the statue went up for auction. The statue is now located in the Fitzroy Gardens, near Cook's Cottage. The Melbourne Encyclopediahttp://www.emelbourne.net.au/ says it was donated to the City of Melbourne and installed in July 1997. It would be interesting to know who purchased the sculpture at the auction (if anyone) and who donated it as it was a generous thing to do.

Sales flyer for the statueSales flyer for the building, showing the statue in situThe artist who created the sculpture was Marc Clark. On the back of the sales flyer for the sculpture, there are some biographical details of Mr Clark. He was born in London in 1923, studied at the Canterbury School of Art, served in the 9th Queens's Royal Lancers from 1942 to 1947 and then studied sculpture at the Royal Collage of Arts in London. After various jobs he arrived in Australia in 1962 and lectured at the Caulfield Institute of Technology, was Drawing and Sculpture Master at the National Gallery Art School and later lectured at the Victorian College of the Arts. Other works he was commissioned for include a statue of the late Queen of Tonga; a statue of the first Australian Prime Minister, Sir Edmund Barton in Canberra; a statue of Governor Bligh in Sydney and a statue of Matthew Flinders in Mornington.

The Dandenong Journal reported on January 23, 1952 that Miss Beatrice (Trixie) Thomas had been appointed as the Berwick Shire Secretary. Miss Thomas (1901- 1997) had been employed by the Shire for 27 years and had been acting as the Assistant Secretary for 'some time' Miss Thomas was the daughter of Albert Thomas, who founded the Pakenham Gazette in 1909 and the sister of Herb Thomas, who took over the paper from his father. Miss Thomas followed Mr K. A. McKay in the role, who had served for four years and resigned in December 1951. Keith McKay had taken over from the long serving James Joseph Ahern who was in the role from 1906 until he retired December 1947.Dandenong Journal January 23 1952http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222356811Clearly, Miss Thomas was well qualified for the position, however the Returned Soldiers League (RSL) and the Pakenham Upper Progress Association protested against the appointment as the newspaper article from the Dandenong Journal of February 27, 1952 reported (see below). I have transcribed some of the article - the full article can be read here.

CHALLENGED FROM TWO QUARTERS over its failure to give preference to returned servicemen in its recent appointment of a new Shire Secretary, Berwick Shire Council last week replied that the appointment had been made in the best interests of returned soldiers. Chief defendant of council’s action was Cr. C. Greaves, himself a returned man, who said he was very happy over the appointment, but he did compliment the two organisations who had raised the matter, because it showed their vigilance - and vigilance was necessary if preference was to be preserved.EMPHATIC PROTESTPakenham Upper Progress Association forwarded an emphatic protest against the departure from the principle of preference to ex-servicemen in the appointment of Shire Secretary.R.S.L. ASKS FOR REASONSPakenham Branch R.S.L. asked that council inform them of its reasons for departure from theestablished policy of extending preference to returned service men in the recent appointment. Members of the branch desired to know how many returned service men made application for theposition, and, if any, what were their qualifications and experience in municipal administration. Click here to read the rest of the article.

One month later, the R.S.L. requested more information from the Council about the appointment. Read the full article in the Dandenong Journal of March 26, 1952 here.

Dandenong Journal March 26 1952http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222358110PAKENHAM RSL PERSISTS IN PREFERENCE PROBEFeeling that the Berwick Council had not given the information it asked for at its last meeting overthe appointment of a non-returned service secretary, Pakenham R.S.L. last week repeated its request for this information: “How many returned servicemen applied for the position? What weretheir qualifications?”, it asked. It is getting the information it sought, but not before several brushes between councillors not over any desire to withhold the information but over the claim of some councillors that they had been in favor of giving the information in the first place, but couldn’t get support. This was challenged. Cr Houlihan said he felt the R.S.L. was entitled to this information. Their purpose was to watch the interests of the returned servicemen and they couldn’t do this unless they had the information. When the advertisement appeared one clause in it was “Preference to Returned Soldiers.” There were 22 applicants for the position, but no one outside the committee of the council knew whether any returned soldier was included or not. Pakenham R.S.L. had been placed in a very awkward position. They were responsible to the League to see that preference was given to returned soldiers in their district. “They do know”, proceeded Cr. Houlihan”, that the secretary who was appointed is not a returned soldier although our advertisement stated that preference would be given to returned soldiers. And while I’m in this council I hope to see that preference is given to returned servicemen, or an opinion voiced in support of that policy. ... I feel that the branch is entitled to this information so that they can take proper action. Cr. Houlihan moved that the information be supplied.Seconding this motion, Cr. Greaves claimed that he had tried to get a more adequate reply in the first place.There was some support for Miss Thomas - Cr. Kinsella said - I feel this matter has gone far enough. I came to this council table with one purpose only - and that is to get the best service possible for the ratepayers. I took the action in moving as I did in furtherance of that policy and I was supported by 10 councillors. I have nothing against telling the R.S.L. what it wants to know. Certainly tell them. I would say that ’when the position became vacant we should have appointed Miss Thomas there and then if that was our intention. We can’t appoint a member of the staff unless it is unanimous'. 'I may-be wrong', proceeded Cr. Kinsella, but I believe that for a returned soldier to serve this council he would have to have qualities at least equal with one who has given this council long and loyal service and who has nothing against them. I would always support the appointment of one whom I believe, rightly or wrongly, has served this shire well. ... I do object to councillors now getting up and saying they said things they definitely did not say when this matter first came before council.Read the full article hereThe controversy was still raging a month later when the Dandenong Journal had a 'vox pop' on the issue.Dandenong Journal April 22 1952http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23175326The dispute that has thrown Berwick and Pakenham into two camps - whether Miss Beatrice Thomas should be Shire Secretary was settled at the Berwick Shire Council meeting yesterday. But the result is a closely guarded secret. Cr. A. G. Robinson, Shire President, said 'Miss Thomas's appointment was made with the full approval of council' Mr. Vernon Clark, Pakenham R. S. L. branch honorary secretary,who wants an ex-serviceman appointed, was not admitted to the meeting. Mr Clark will seek the advice of a Queen's Counsel on whether the Council violated it's agreement to grant preference to returned servicemen. Shire residents yesterday supported Mr Clark's protest.Mr. L. C. Futcher, Pakenham shopkeeper, said: 'Rejection of the promises made to returned servicemen is a thing that should be stopped before it spreads to other Councils and other employees'.Miss Alma Lang of Berwick: 'I have two brothers who went right through the War, so I'll always stick up for servicemen'.Miss Joyce Berry, cook, at Berwick Hospital: 'How can we expect men to join up for the next War if those who fought in the last one aren't given a fair go'.Misses Evande Trebilen and Pat Fritzlaff, Berwick dressmakers: 'The Shire Secretary's job is a man's job whether he's a returned soldier or not'.The Dandenong Journal of May 21, 1952 published another article on the issue, this time reporting on some support Miss Thomas was receiving from a number of high profile women's groups.Dandenong Journal May 21 1952 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222359127

WOMEN RALLY TO DEFENCE OF BERWICK'S SHIRE SECRETARYCounterblast To R.S.L.'s Protest.The women are not taking the R.S.L’s. protest against the appointment of Miss Beatrice Thomas, as Berwick Shire Secretary in preference to an ex-serviceman, lying down. At Monday’s meeting, no less than five letters were received by council, congratulating it on having appointed Miss Thomas, and urging it to stand its ground.The National Council of Women wrote: 'We desire to express to the President and the members of council our appreciation of your action in not allowing any discrimination on the grounds of sex toprevent you from appointing the most suitable applicant for the position'.Dr Janet P. Cooper of Albert Park, wrote: 'Having read of your selecting Miss Thomas as Shire Secretary, I am pleased to congratulate you on recognising her service and ability. While fully appreciating and remembering what we all owe to the ex-service people, there are situations when the ratepayers are entitled to the most efficient service'.'The League of Women Voters of Victoria congratulate your Shire Council on having appointed as Shire Secretary, your very experienced officer, Miss Thomas’ wrote the president of that organisation. 'The officers and members hope that, in spite of any protests that may be made you will continue to employ Miss Thomas in that position, and to enjoy her services, which after 25 years experience, must be entirely adequate'.Expressing concern at the press statement made by an R.S.L. representative, 'That we will oppose the appointment of a woman as Shire Secretary', the Women’s Christian Temperance Union of Victoria, wrote: 'We feel that the appointment would not have been made unless the council is assured that the best interests of the shire would be served by this officer, and trust that your council will adhere tothe decision to make qualifications rather than sex, or other issues the basis of the appointment'.Voicing their congratulations on the appointment the Business Professional Women’s Clubof Melbourne stated: 'This club considers that in the interests of the community, appointmentsshould made having regard only for the ability and experience of the candidates, and without discrimination because of sex'.

So what happened in the end? Miss Thomas retained her appointment and served the Shire of Berwick until she retired in 1966. She is pictured, above, with the 1965 Shire of Berwick Councillors and staff.Miss Thomas (pictured) was an inaugural member of the Historical Society of the Berwick Shire, formed in 1962 (now called the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society) - this is the original headquarters in John Street, Pakenham, built on land donated by Les Futcher, who was one of the locals who opposed Miss Thomas' appointment as Shire Secretary in 1952 (see 'vox pop' article, above)

These photos are of the Shire of Cranbourne Bi-Centenary Parade, along High Street in Cranbourne, held March 1988. Groups from all around the Shire had a float. In 1988, Cranbourne was not quite the country town that it once was, but less populated and busy than it is today - certainly you could hardly imagine that they would shut down High Street today for a parade. Here's a look at Cranbourne's population* over the past 40 years - in 1976 it was just over 5,000; 1986 the population was around 14,000; 1996 around 24, 000; 2006 around 37, 000 and 2016 around 67,000 - so you can see that in 1988 it was relatively small community. I was given these photos and the person who gave them to me can't remember who took them, so if they are yours let me know - and we can credit you as the photographer. This is Cr Bill Thwaites, presiding over the official part of the dayTaken outside McEwans (remember them?) at Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre which opened in 1979.A Highland bandAnother Highland BandCranbourne Municipal - can't read the rest of the sign - perhaps the Municipal bicycle band!A bullock teamMelbourne Hunt ClubMarching girlsMore Marching girlsKoo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society floatGirl GuidesBoy Scouts Cranbourne Rotaract ClubPony ClubVehicles of all types - carsVehicles of all types - decorated caravanVehicles of all types - horse and carriageVehicles of all types - motor carsVehicles of all types - New Holland Harvesters - built right here in Cranbourne at the Sperry New Holland plantVehicles of all types - the Muffin Truck man, and again, below - just to show some of the shop fronts.

Vehicles of all types - Fire enginesVehicles of all types - this is labelled 'Jack Rogers' *These figures include all of Cranbourne including what is called today Cranbourne North, Cranbourne East and Cranbourne South. The population figures (apart form the 2016 population) come from Victorian Places.

This is a short history of Technical Schools in the Casey Cardinia Region

At first local students in this region, who wanted a Technical education, had to go to either Dandenong or Warragul. This paralled the early High School years where Dandenong High or Warragul High were the only choices in this region for higher education, until Koo-Wee-Rup High opened in 1957 and then a raft of schools in the 1960s and 1970s (click here for more information)

Dandenong Technical School was established in 1954 with an initial enrolment of 272 boys. The first classes were held in the Scout Hall on the Princes Highway until the school was built on the corner of Stud Road and Cleeland Street. It was a more rural location than it is today as according to Vision and Realisation 'frequently, cattle being driven to the sale yards broke into the grounds and were rounded up by drovers and their dogs' In 1964 the total enrolment of all students including day students, evening class students etc was 2,000. In 1974, the TAFE system (Technical and Further Education) was established and by 1973 Dandenong Technical school was a TAFE college and it is now part of Chisholm. However a new Dandenong Technical School was established in 1981 at 136 Cleeland Street according to Technical Education Victoria*

If you lived at the eastern end (such as Bunyip) or southern end (such as Lang Lang) of the region and wanted a Technical education then you could have gone to Warragul Technical School.Warragul Technical School was established in 1956 according to Technical Education Victoria. However Vision and Realisation says that technical classes were instituted at Warragul High in 1953 and they separated into two buildings on the same site 1959. The 1959 enrolment was 290 students from Form 1 to Form 4 and 100 other students including senior students, apprentices and evening class students. In 1969 the total school population was 919.

In July 1971, the Bunyip and Garfield Express paper reported that the Garfield Progress Association advocated for a Technical School to be built in the town as they said that everyday 100 students catch the train to either Drouin or Warragul to further their education and there were 700 children travelling to secondary schools at this end of the Shire. A Technical school was never established in Garfield but there was a report in February 1972 about Warragul Technical School going co-ed – there were 610 boys and 10 girls (all the girls specialised in art) The paper reported that the girls had settled into the school ‘in true women’s liberation fashion’ and ‘the order of the day is smart uniforms which contrasts pleasantly to the boys dress’ The Technical School and the High School combined in 1994 to form the Warragul Regional College.

This is the Bunyip Railway Station in the 1970s and shows the number of students travelling by train to school, as mentioned above. The train would have taken students to Drouin High, Warragul Tech and two Catholic Schools at Warragul- Marist Brothers and Our Lady of Sion, which combined in 1975 to become Marist Sion. I put this photo on Facebook and one of the comments said that Marist Sion students were in the last carriage and the 'Tech kids' travelled in the next 2 carriages. Photo is from Call of the Bunyip: History of Bunyip, Iona and Tonimbuk by Denise Nest (Bunyip History Committee, 1990)

It is no surprise that with the establishment of the 'Big three' industries at Dandenong in the 1950s - International Harvestor, Heinz and General Motors Holden and the associated businesses established in the area to supply parts, services and transport to these industries and thus the huge increase in population in Doveton, Hallam and Cranbourne North that the other Technical Schools in this region were centred at the western end.

The earliest of these was Doveton Technical School, established in 1963. Initially housed at Dandenong Tech it moved to it's permanent location in Box Street in 1964. Vision and Realisation reports that enrolments from 1963 to 1968 included students from Doveton, the area east of the Frankston-Dandenong Road, Narre Warren North, Beaconsfield, Pakenham East, Koo-Wee-Rup, Korumburra, Lang Lang and Cranbourne. Apart from the Doveton students they came by train to the Dandenong Railway Station and then caught a bus to the school. In 1967 the school began enrolling girls at Form One level. Doveton Technical School later became Doveton Secondary College and it merged with Dandenong High School in 2008.

The site of Doveton North Technical College in 1968, the year before it opened.Doveton North Technical School opened in 1969. Vision and Realisation says that the school 'opened with background sounds from croaking frogs and mooing cows, a vista of green paddocks and stately pines'! Initial enrolment was 37 (or 45 depending on sources). From 1974 it was called Endeavour Hills Technical School, then from 1990 Endeavour Hills Secondary College, then from 1993 Eumemmerring College Endeavour Hills campus, then in 2008 it changed back to Endeavour Hills Secondary College. The school closed December 2012. You can read more about the school and see some more photos, here.The last Technical School to open in the region was Cranbourne Meadows in 1981, this was a co-ed school however Technical Education Victoria, published in 1981, said that in 1983 the predicted enrolment would be 450 students, of which 100 would be girls, so clearly techical school education was still seen as something more boys than girls were interested in. The 1987 enrolment was 844. The school became Lyndhurst Secondary College, sometime in the 1990s.

Past editions of the Year Book Australia are now on-line from 1908 to 2009. You can access them here on the Australia Bureau of Statistics website. The 'Official Year book of the Commonwealth of Australia' as they were called at one time were produced by the Commonwealth Statistician and they have statistics on all aspects of Australian life. You may be thinking that you can't see the relevance of this to your local or family history research, but they have a huge rang of interesting facts that you could add to your stories about your family or local area. So here's my story with some facts from the Year Books.

I was born in 1959, one of 226, 976 babies born that year. Of these babies there just over 5,100 were twin and 66 were triplets. I was one of the 110, 735 girls born and there were just over 116, 000 boys (including three of my cousins). The Year Book also tells us that of all these babies 10, 562 were born 'ex-nuptial' or out of wedlock. These days, of course, most people are not at all concerned about whether the parents of babies are married or not, but people thought differently then. It wasn't all good news however, as sadly the same year there were 3,231 still births and 4, 489 babies died under the age of one.

In 1959 the average number of 'nuptial confinements per marriage' was 2.93 i.e the average family had 3 children. I was the second child but by mid 1960 my younger sister was born - so that made the 3! The Year Book also tells us about the age of the parents of the children born - around 68,000 were aged between 20 and 24 and 67,000 between 25 and 29 - my mother was 24 (22 when she had my elder sister and 25 when my younger sister was born. She was what was considered then a rather ancient 29 when my brother was born in 1964!) This was about standard as most women at the time had their second child when they were aged between 25 and 29. As a matter of interest, 489 women had their 10th (or more child) in 1959 - 200 of these mothers were aged between 35 and 44 but 32 were over 45! One woman was aged between 20 and 24 when she had her 10th child!

1959 births - one of these babies was me! Female and a single birth.Year Book Australia1961

Fathers on the other hand tended to be a bit older, but generally most women aged between 20 and 29 who gave birth in 1959 had a husband not older than 29. In 1959, two thirds of women who were having their first child had been married less than 2 years - my aunty was one of these when she gave birth to her first child and my own parents were married just on a year when my sister had been born.

So let's now look at 1956 the year my parents were married. There were 71,780 people married that year of which around 29,000 of the men and 31, 000 of the women were aged between 20 and 24, which includes my parents. People did tend to marry at a much earlier age than today - over 17, 000 women under 20 were married in 1956 and 2,700 men. The Year Book also lists 'Marriages in each denomination' 12.66% of all marriages took place in the Presbyterian Church, including my parents; around 13% were Methodist weddings, 24% Catholic and just under 30% were Church of England or Anglican. Various other Christian religions had 8% of the total and 'Hebrew' or Jewish weddings were .38%. No real surprises there given the make-up of the population at the time. The rest of the marriages or 11.28% were 'Civil Offices' - most likely at the Registry Office, the first 'civil celebrant' as we know them today was not appointed until 1973.

1956 marriages - my parents made up part of the 12.66% of Presbyterian marriages.Year Book Australia 1958What else can the Year Books tell you? The average weekly wage for males and females, number of private cars and how many were registered in that year; number of houses built and of what material; what sort of dwellings people lived in (private house - the definition of which also included sheds and huts - flats, licensed hotels); how many schools there were, number of people enrolled at University; agricultural production; countries were people were born, agricultural production - the list is amazing.

Have a look at the Year Books and see what interesting information you can find about significant years in the life of your family or your local town. You just need to remember that if you want specific statistics for a certain year then you will may need to look in later years, for instance it was the 1961 Year Book that contained the 1959 birth statistics. Click here for access to the on-line Year Books.

William and Mary Hallam purchased the 50 acres (20 hectares) of land in 1856 on the corner of the Gippsland Road (Princes Highway) and Hallam Road. They established a store and a Post Office and the store was 'the genesis of the hotel' as Jean Uhl says in her book Call back Yesterday: Eumemmerring Parish. I do not know when the Hallams were granted the licence but there is an article in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of May 21, 1879 when Mr W. Hallam of Eumemmerring was charged in the Dandenong Police Court with 'not having a light outside his licenced house' (you can read the article here) so it was clearly operating as a hotel then. The Hallam Hotel website says it started in 1872 and this seems to be the general consensus from newspapers articles published on the history of the hotel in 1970s and 1980s, and I am not saying that this date is incorrect, but I can't find any evidence to support it.

The Hallams sold their land to Edmund Uren, in 1885. This is confirmed by the following two articles in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of March 11, 1885.

South Bourke and Mornington Journal March 11, 1885http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page6745638Deborah Stephan, in her booklet, Hallam 1830-1930, wrote this about Edmund Uren, who had purchased Hallam's property for 2,100 pounds - Uren was a Cornishman who arrived in Australia in 1856 and went into copper mining on the Buninyong district (Ballarat). He served three years on the Borough Council, one year as Mayor of Buninyong and three years as a member of the Ballarat Mining Board. On November 24 1886 Uren applied for a certificate authorising the issue of a victuallar's licence for premises situate at Eumemmerring, 'containing six rooms exclusive of those required for the use of my family and servants'. In June 1892 he described himself as the licensed victualler of Hallam's Hotel, Hallam Road near Dandenong, when conveying the property to his wife Elizabeth.

I don't know why he had to apply for a victuallers licence as he already had one, but I suspect that he might have rebuilt the building as by 1886 the original premises would have been close to 30 years old. You can see in the newspaper report, above, that the hotel was referred to as the Eumemmerring Hotel - Jean Uhl says that the hotel had a variety of names including Hallam's Eumemmerring Hotel, Uren's Hallam Hotel, Uren's Hotel Eumemmerring and Hallam's Road Hotel.

Edmund Uren died in July 1892 and his wife, Elizabeth, took over the licence. Elizabeth operated the hotel until June 1898 when 'Miss Clarkson was installed there' as the South Bourke and Mornington Journal said. Ada Jane Clarkson owned the Hotel until March 1913. It then had a succession of licensees including Eliza Bonnell, Sarah Wright and Mary Thomas who took over in 1921.

Hallam Hotel, before the 1930s remodellingThe Hotel started it's life as a one storey building and The Age reported on October 28, 1930 that existing building was to be modernised and extended.

The Age October 28 1930http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202242862The new hotel was opened in March the next year as the the Dandenong Journal of March 12, 1931 reported The new hotel has been completed; a handsome two story building, which has taken the place of the old hostel of the overlanding days.

This is Willowdale in Cranbourne. We have the following information about Willowdale in our Archive. The information was supplied by Val Bourke (nee Glen) to our previous Local History Officer, Claire Sandell, in 2004.

The Glen family bought the Close property from William Close in 1938. There were around 260 acres and another 160 acres with a two storey brick house. This is where the Amstel Gold Course is located on Cranbourne Frankston Road. Part of this acreage, without the house, was over the road on the side where St Peters School is today.

The Close Property, called Willowdale was a double story brick home, still there in the late 1960s. It is believed that the same builder had constructed Willowdale, Balla Balla and Harewood; all local homes and Willowdale is the only one not here today. It was a rectangle Georgian design in cream brick with a slate roof. The bricks are believed to have been made on the property. Its front door was surrounded in lead light glass - described as being a 'lovely blue' There was a main hallway and stairs to the second level. On the first level, the drawing room was on the right hand side and the two bedrooms on the left hand side. The hallway went through at the back to a meals and kitchen area. There was one chimney, which went through the downstairs bedrooms and then to upstairs.

There was a picket fence at the front of the house, later replaced by wire. Two Norfolk pines stood on the left hand side of the house.

Mrs Bourke's sister, Phyllis Kirkham, also supplied some information on the Glen family. The family, Edward and Philomena (nee Field) Glen and children, moved from Woodside to Lyndhurst onto a property on the corner of Dandenong-Hastings Road and Thompsons Road on the Dandenong side closest to Cranbourne, in 1925. They then took up a farm opposite the Hallam Hotel on the Highway. They then moved back to Lyndhurst and finally to Willowdale. Their mother died when Phyllis was serving in the Air Force as an eighteen year old during the Second World War. All the children had to help on the farm at Willowdale and they worked very hard. The name was changed to Willowglen and then Willowlodge by the Glen family.

At Willowglen the Glens farmed Australian Illawarra Shorthorn cattle and showed them under the name Willowlodge.

Phyllis and her late husband, Jack Kirkham, met at Hallam Primary School when they were children. You can read about the Hallam School and the Kirkham family, here.

Who were the Close family? In 1863 (the first year of the Shire of Cranbourne Rate books that we have) John Close is listed as owning 391 acres in the Parish of Lyndhurst. Later in the 1860s a Mary Close had 316 acres and James Close 75 acres (391 acres in total). John Close died in Cranbourne in 1866 and he left land to his brothers James and Thomas and some assets to his wife Mary. The boys were the sons of Thomas Close and Margaret Gordon. James (who died in 1908) was married to Louisa Hall and amongst their children was a William and I presume that it was this William from whom the Glen family purchased Willowdale.

Here are some Internet sites to access photographs and information on Historic Melbourne.InformationVictorian Placeswww.victorianplaces.com.auThis website has the history of many towns and suburbs in Victoria. It also has some photographs.

Melbourne Encyclopediawww.emelbourne.net.auEverything you want to know about greater Melbourne from history to architecture, law to literature and everything in between.

Facebookwww.facebook.comYou need to join Facebook - it's free, but once you do you can access lots of historical sites - Lost Melbourne , Lost Country Victoria, Casey Cardi nia Heritage, Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society, Ballarat History, Malvern Historical Society, Gippsland History - the list is endless. If you have an interest in a particular area then you will find a Facebook site on that area.

I grew up in Cora Lynn and went to school at Pakenham Consolidated School and Koo-Wee-Rup High, so I consider I grew up in West Gippsland, which in my mind started a bit west of Pakenham and finished a bit east of Warragul, after that you get into the La Trobe Valley. South Gippsland, on the other hand started around Loch or wherever the hills started after leaving the flat plains of the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp and the Lang Lang area. Koo-Wee-Rup and Lang Lang were thus not part of Gippsland at all, according to my opinion, not sure where I thought they belonged, but I associate South Gippsland with steep hills. So I thought I would find some sources of information, with varying levels of authority, to tell us where the western boundary of Gippsland is. Incidently, Gippsland was named in honour of Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales from 1838 to 1846.

The book In the wake of the Pack Tracks published by the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society says that Bowman's Hotel established in the early 1850s on the Cardinia Creek and the Gippsland Road, at what is now Beaconsfield, was also known as the Gippsland Hotel because Cardinia Creek was the border between the Port Phillip District and Gippsland. When the Bunyip River was later proclaimed the boundary the hotel name was changed. It is now known as the Central Hotel. So this source puts the Gippsland Border at the Cardinia Creek and later the Bunyip River.

Charles Daley, in his book The story of Gippsland (published by Whitcombe & Tombs P/L in 1960) has this to say about the western boundary 'the boundary on the west was the Alps and a line drawn southward to Anderson's Inlet, in proximity to the Bunyip River. Approximately this last boundary would be the present county of Mornington as the limit westward' You can see a map of the County of Mornington, here, on the State Library of Victoria website. So if the Bunyip River is the border, then it puts all of the Casey Cardinia region outside of Gippsland.

Mr Daley has a chapter on the Gippsland Shires and Boroughs Development Association, formed in 1912 with the object of furthering the progress of Gippsland and Mornington County and both the Berwick Shire and the Cranbourne Shire are members as are the Fern Tree Gully Shire and Dandenong Shire (both of which have part of their area in the County of Mornington). Dandenong used to promote itself as the 'gateway to Gippsland' and the history of the Casey Cardinia region is historically linked to Dandenong as it was a service town to the a region.

A 1866 map of Gippsland, you can view it here, has the old township of Bunyeep on the Bunyip River as the Gippsland border. So it does seem that there is a consensus (amongst some) that the Bunyip River is the western border.

I have been doing a lot of research into soldiers in the local area for our blog Casey Cardinia Commemorating the Great War and it is interesting to see who used Gippsland as an address. As you might expect some soldiers from Beaconsfield, Officer, Pakenham and all stops down the railway line to Bunyip used their hometown plus Gippsland as part of their address as did men from Cora Lynn, Iona and Koo-Wee-Rup. Less expected was the information that Sydney Eversley Ferres (SN - Service Number 194) had his address as Emerald, Gippsland as did Thomas Walker (SN 872) whose address is Macclesfield, near Emerald, Gippsland. Robert Hill (SN 1591) and Francis Joseph Seymour (SN 2391) both have Hallam's Road, Gippsland as their address (Hallam's Road is now called Hallam) Narre Warren and Narre Warren North are also listed as Gippsland on enrolment papers. I am surprised that Emerald, Hallam, Narre Warren or Narre Warren North would be considered Gippsland, but some people thought so 100 years ago.

Back to my dilemma as to where South Gipplsland starts - William Lester Lyons (SN 655) has his address listed on his enrolment paper as Cranbourne, Gippsland and yet Arthur Bell (SN 6956) is Cranbourne, South Gippsland. There are also have examples of Clyde, Yanathan, Tooradin and Lang Lang being listed as both Gippsland and South Gippsland and one example of Dalmore being called South Gippsland.

To add to the mix there are also references to North Gippsland in the enlistment papers of soldiers - these men mostly come from Heyfield, Maffra, Fernbank region but there is a photograph held at the State Library of Victoria called Bunnip Hotel, North Gippsland taken by Fred Kruger in the 1880s. This Hotel established by David Connor, around 1867, was on the Bunyip River and the Gippsland Road (Princes Highway) - not what I would consider to be Bunyip North, but some-one did.

In April 1965, the Pakenham Gazette reported on the upcoming football season and the West Gippsland League included the following teams - Bunyip, Catani, Cora Lynn, Drouin, Garfield, Lang Lang, Longwarry, Koo-Wee-Rup, Nar Nar Goon, Pakenham and Yarragon. In my mind a fairly logical range of towns to represent West Gippsland. Yet the South-West Gippsland League had the following teams - Beaconsfield, Berwick, Cranbourne, Doveton, Lyndhurst-Hampton Park, Keysborough, Narre Warren, Officer, Rythdale-Cardinia and Tooradin-Dalmore - a far less logical name for the League as even though some of these towns could perhaps claim to be West Gippsland, they aren't even remotely South Gippsland. The Victorian Places website says that you could define Gippsland by water catchment areas - From east to west the catchments comprise East Gippsland, Snowy, Tambo, Mitchell, Thomson, Latrobe, South Gippsland and Bunyip. The last one, the Bunyip catchment, consists of several streams that flow into Western Port Bay, as well as the Dandenong Creek which enters Port Phillip Bay at Carrum. With the Dandenong Creek omitted, the balance of the Bunyip catchment (ie eastwards of Cardinia Creek) includes most of Gippsland West. So now we are basically back to our original boundary, the Cardinia Creek, that we started with when we spoke about the location of the Gippsland Hotel at Beaconsfield on the Cardinia Creek.In summary - with all this evidence coming from various sources, some authorative and some less authorative, I'm happy to go with the Cardinia Creek as the (unofficial) boundary of Gippsland. Firstly, it was the original boundary and secondly, the fact that on a social level, many people in the Casey Cardinia region have identified as belonging to Gippsland - even if it was for something as 'trivial' as sport or on a more serious basis, they had it recorded as their address on their World War One enlistment papers.

The Berwick and District Agricultural & Horticultural Society hold an annual show at Akoonah Park in Berwick. The Show can trace its origins back to the first event organised by the predecessor of the Berwick and District Agricultural & Horticultural Society, the Mornington Farmers' Society in 1857. The name Berwick and District Agricultural & Horticultural Society was adopted by the Mornington Farmers' Society at the Annual General Meeting held July 25, 1918.

Here is a short history of the evolution of the Show Society. In July 1848 the Moonee Ponds Farmers' Society was established. The aims of the Society were to encourage a spirit of emulation amongst agriculturalists and makers and importers of agricultural implements by offering prizes to be competed for annually - for the best samples of grain and other agricultural produce; for the best stock for agricultural, grazing and dairying purposes and for the best agricultural implements, also by offering prizes to be competed for at annual ploughing matches and for the encouragement of district farming societies. (Source: Early Days of Berwick, which has a very comprehensive chapter on the Mornington Farmers' Society and the Berwick & District Agricultural & Horticultural Society)

The Moonee Ponds Farmers' Society wasted no time and held their first ploughing on July 28, 1848. You can read a report in The Argus about this event here. On August 18 1848 a meeting was held and the named of the Society was changed to the Port Phillip Farmers' Society. You can read about this. once again in The Argus, here. The Port Phillip Farmers' Society had three branches - Gisborne, Bacchus Marsh and the Mornington branch, which was established in October 1856. It was named Mornington from the County of Mornington. For land administrative purposes Victoria was divided into Counties and the Mornington County took in the Mornington Peninsula, Bass Coast region, Phillip Island, Cranbourne Narre Warren and east to Bunyip and parts of Emerald and Gembrook.

We will return to Early Days of Berwick to find out how the Mornington branch was established - At a meeting at Bowman's Hotel on the Cardinia Creek in 1856, for the purpose of forming a District Roads Board, Mr Alexander Patterson brought forward a proposal to form a district Pastoral and Agricultural Society as a branch of the Port Phillip Farmers' Society, of which he was a district member. The idea was heartily approved by the meeting and about twenty enrolled as members. Shortly afterwards, on 6th October 1856, a meeting was held in Dandenong, when it was resolved that a Society be established and named the Mornington Farmers' Society in accord with the title of the central society. It was further resolved that there should be a committee of nine member and the following were elected by ballot: Dr James Smith Adams, Dr James Bathe, Messrs Abraham Gardiner, Isaac Keys, William Lyall, Alexander Patterson, Charles Rossiter, Thomas Walton and John Wedge. Mr Patterson was elected Secretary and Treasurer.The Mornington Farmers' Society held their first Ploughing match on Wednesday May 30, 1857 at 'Mr Walton's Farm near Dandenong' - this was Thomas Walton, who came to what is now called Narre Warren in 1852 and built Holly Green - his farm is now occupied by the Fountain Gate Shopping Centre. The Early Days of Berwick has the location of this first ploughing match taking place at Cranbourne, but this report, below, from The Argus contradicts this (this not to denigrate the research published in the Early Days of Berwick which was first published in 1948 - we now have a huge range of resources available to us on-line that were unheard of in 1948) The second ploughing match was held at Cranbourne, you can read about it here.

MORNINGTON PLOUGHING MATCHThe first district ploughing match of the Port Phillip Farmers' Society, in the county of Mornington, took place according to advertisement on Wednesday last at Mr. Walton's farm, near Dandenong.The ground selected proved to be admirably adapted for the match, and all the arrangements made by Alexander Patterson, Esq., a member of the society residing in the neighbourhood, were calculated to give entire satisfaction to the competitors and spectators assembled ou the occasion. Messrs. Thomas Miller and William Dewar attended asjudges from the central society. Mr. Charles Forrester, who had been appointed to act with them as the local judge, preferred entering the lists as a competitor, and as will be seen from the awards subjoined, succeeded in carrying off a second prize, thus practically showing that his appointment by the Committee was a judicious one.The number of entries at the hour for starting amounted to twelve, viz.,-seven horses and five bullock teams. The quantity of ground allotted to each competitor was half an acre, and, in the majority of instances, the work was completed in excellent style. The judges expressed themselves highly pleased with the ploughing in both classes, and their decisions gave entire satisfaction to all parties interested.The awards were as follows :Class 1, Ploughing with Horses.First Prize- A Gold Medal awarded to Mr. A. Patterson -ploughman John Gellie.Second Prize -First Silver Medal, awarded toMesssrs. J. and P. Brisbane - ploughman James Rutherford. 'Class 2, Ploughing with Bullocks.First Prize - Gold Medal, awarded to Mr. John Mills - plough held by himself.Second Prize - First Silver Medal, awarded to Mr. Charles Forroster - plough held by himself.Mr. James Buchanan's ploughing highly commended.Best Team of Mares or Geldings at work in the field - First Silver Medal, awarded to Mr Isaac Keys for a pair of very superior mares.Best team of Bullocks, at work in the field. First silver medal, awarded to Messrs. J. and P. Brisbane.Although, from various causes, the number of competitors was not quite so large as expected, still, as a commencement, the meeting was a most satisfactory one.. The attendance of spectators throughout the day was numerous, and comprised all the agriculturists of note in the locality. Their previoussupport of the Port Phillip Farmers' Society has been most cordial,while the spirit evinced regarding the match, coupled with the successful result of the day's proceedings, speaks favourably as to the desire for agricultural improvement existing in this rapidly rising district.After the termination of the match, the gentlemen present sat down to a dinner, hospitably provided by Mr. Walton, and eventually separated, with the determination to support next year's ploughing match with increased spirit.You can read about the 1858 ploughing match, here. It was held on the property of the Reverend Alexander Duff at Cranbourne.

In another post we looked at the establishment of the Mornington Farmers' Society, which in 1918 became the Berwick and District Agricultural and Horticultural Society. This is an account of their second annual ploughing match held at 'the property of the Reverend Alexander Duff in the township of Cranbourne' Reverend Duff owned most of the block bordered by Russell, Bakewell, Cameron and Childers Street - the site is now occupied by Cranbourne Primary School.

PLOUGHING MATCH.MORNINGTON BRANCH OF THE PORT PHILLIP FARMERS' SOCIETY.The second annual ploughing match of the Mornington branch of the Port Phillip Farmers' Society took place, according to appointment, on the property of the Rev. Alex. Duff, in the township of Cranbourne, on Friday last, and was in every respect a successful gathering of the friends of agricultural progress in that district.

The number of teams and ploughs assembled on the ground amounted to 15; viz., eight horse and seven bullock ploughs, being three in excess of last year ; and it is but justice to state, that in the display on this occasion a very decided improvement was evinced, both as to the quality of the teams and the care and skill of the workmen contesting for the prizes.

On the completion of the work allotted to the various competitors, the Judges, Messrs Dick, Wade and Leckie, proceeded to their inspection, and handed in their awards, as follows :

BEST TEAM OF MARES AND GELDINGS AT WORK IN THE FIELDFirst Prize - First silver medal -To Messrs. C. and T. Rossiter.Second Prize - Second silver medal-¡To Messrs Creighton.BEST TEAM OF BULLOCKS.First Prize - First silver medal – Mr M. M’LellandSecond Prize-Second silver medal-Mr. J. Buchanan

Most of the leading gentry and agriculturists of the district, together with a sprinkling of the fair sex, visited the field during the progress of the match, and in the evening were hospitably entertained by the worthy proprietor.The vice chair was occupied by A. Patterson, Esq., to whose exertions in the capacity of hon. secretary the success of the society Is in a great measure to be attributed. A variety of excellent speeches followed, in the course of which frequent allusions were made to the fact of the grain-growers of the district taking some of the principal prizes, in competition with those of Adelaide and Victoria, at the late show of the Port Phillip Farmers' Society, and all present expressed their satisfaction at the results of the second annual ploughinig match of the " Mornington Branch."You can read about the first ploughing match held at Mr Walton's farm at Narre Warren, here.

One of my favourite websites is the Victorian Places website http://www.victorianplaces.com.au/We'll use the website's own words to tell you what it is all about This is a website containing the history of all the places in Victoria (Australia) that have now or once had a population over 200 at any time since the establishment of Victoria as a British colony. The project is a joint initiative of Monash University and the University of Queensland.

It's a great website, and one of the coolest things about it is the homepage with a green Melbourne tram - the pictures in the window scroll through and the search box is the route number sign on the top right - it's a fabulous example of graphic design. What you find for each town is a history, any significant events, the development of the town from country town to suburb (applicable), an entry on the town from the 1903 Australian Handbook, population statistics, some photos and a 'further reading' list. It'a a great resource if you want a concise history of a town that you have an interest in for family or local history purposes.

Reading the excerpts from the Australian Handbook is also interesting as it gives a snap shot of the town in 1903, even though it is a bit sad that many of these towns were better served with public transport and services such as banks than they today. I have picked three towns from the City of Casey and three from the Cardinia Shire (and in the interests of historical municipal fairness they are also three towns from the Shire of Cranbourne and three from the Shire of Berwick) to highlight the Australian Handbook entry

The Sperry New Holland building at Cranbourne, c. 1992Sperry New Holland commenced operations in Victoria at Dandenong in 1955. They manufactured agricultural equipment including hay balers and hay bale elevators. In 1980, they purchased a 46 hectare site (around ten times the size of their Dandenong operations) in Cranbourne-Berwick Road, Cranbourne. They built a 2 hectare factory and it opened around 1982. Initially there were over 400 people employed but a recession hit within 18 months and there were redundancies and layoffs. In 1985 the Company was taken over by the Ford Motor Company, but continued producing machinery and also made parts for car manufacturers. The factory had its own spur line from the main South Gippsland Railway line, The spur line went into what is now the The Shed, a skate board facility, so I presume it was used a for despatch. If you are interested in railway infrastructure then there are some photographs of the old line on the Vicsig.net website, here.The Ford New Holland factory closed down around 1992 as operations were shifted to New South Wales and sadly, workers were made redundant. The entire site was sold to the Cranbourne Shire for five million dollars. The Casey Cardinia Library Corporation moved into the Administration building in 1996 and the main factory building is now the Terry Vickerman Indoor Sports Centre.Terry Vickerman was the Cranbourne Shire Chief Executive for 22 years until he retired in December 1994, after the Council amalgamations. He was responsible for the purchase of the building, which was not without its critics. The Shire of Cranbourne Ratepayers and Residents Association threatened to stand candidates against the sitting councillors who had voted for the purchase - the gist of the complaints against the purchase were that the Council had not provided enough information on the transaction and that residents outside of the Cranbourne township would have to pay for the site but would obtain no benefit from it.Cranbourne Sun March 16, 1992. It's a scan of a photocopy, so it's a fairly ordinary image, but if you click on the photo you can enlarge it and read it.It depended on who you asked if the cost of the site at five million dollars was reasonable or not. It does appear that many ratepayers were unhappy with not only the initial purchase price but with the money required to convert it to its new purpose - an estimated ten million dollars. However, according to a report in Hansard on May 3, 1994, the local member Gary Rowe (Liberal member for the Legislative Assembly seat of Cranbourne from 1992 to 2002) considered that the five million dollars was a 'bargain basement ' price.Hansard May 3, 1994. Access Mr Rowe's full speech hereEither way, 25 years on, whether the five million dollars purchase price was a waste of tax payers money or a bargain the site and its associated buildings are now a real asset to not only the Cranbourne community but further afield - there is the Cranbourne Library, the incredibly busy Casey Indoor Leisure Complex (Terry Vickerman Centre), The Shed Skatepark, The Factory Rehearsal Centre for the Arts, the Casey RACE (Casey Recreation and Aquatic Centre) and the Balla Balla Centre.

We found this envelope the other day in a cupboard in a store room at Cranbourne Library - it was the key cupboard, all the keys are still there - but we souvenired this for the Archive, as it has the Sperry New Holland logo and the Cranbourne address!

These photographs were taken in the late 1950s and were donated to our Archive by Jim Alexander, a former Councillor for the City of Berwick. They show Hallam, before suburbanization when it was still mainly rural.This is thought to have been taken in 1957 and is labelled 'From Frawley Road, looking north'Same view as above from Frawley Road but looking north to north west, also most likely 1957.Phil Key's new house, looking from Frawley Road, 1958. The house is now on the corner of Kilberry Crescent and Cressonierre Court, even though these streets were built later as I have a 1963 aerial photograph and the land hadn't been subdivided, so this house originally had a driveway off Frawley Road. According to Google Earth, the house is still there. As above, construction of Phil Key's house in 1958.This is Phil Key's house, looking south to south east, 1958. The white farm house, behind Mr Key's house, is described as Frawley's house. In the top right hand corner of the photo is a two storey building, most likely the Hallam Hotel.Labelled as 'Near Frawley road, looking north to north east' 1957Labelled as 'Looking towards Frawley Road, 1958'

I have written about railways on quite a few occasions in this blog, because I have an interest in railways from a social history point of view - the role they played in the development of towns, the freedom they gave to the local people to move about the State (or even interstate) in the days before nearly everyone owned a motor car. The other thing I like about railways is well before on-line shopping became almost the norm the whole world could be delivered to you from mail order catalogues to your local railway station - take a look at some of the old Weekly Times on Trove - and anyone from jewellers to Department stores to agricultural implement makers would send you a printed catalogue to order from. Goods are no longer delivered to our local railway stations - most are unstaffed and the railway buildings replaced by a few open shelters but before these stations, and parcel sheds, goods sheds and Station houses disappeared forever Dave Phillips and others took lots of photos of old stations and you can see them on the When there were Stations website http://www.stationspast.net/

Robert and Susan Bain were the proprietors of the Berwick Inn also known as the Border Hotel in High Street in Berwick.

The hotel was established by Robert Hudson Bain (1831-1887) in 1857 which was four years before the town of Berwick was gazetted. Early Days of Berwick has this to say about the name of the establishment at a very early age, possibly the late 1840's the district was marked out for Police administrative purposes embracing the Port Philip area and with its limits at Bacchus Marsh and Berwick respectively. This theory that Berwick was the 'border' of this administrative area and thus the hotel was named the Border Hotel, is supported by the fact that there is an historic hotel in Bacchus Marsh called the Border Inn, construction of which started in 1850. The book goes on to to say when the original Port Phillip Farmers' Society was formed [in 1848] two branches one at Berwick and one at Bacchus Marsh were formed so that district links existed between these two places. The other theory suggested by Early days of Berwick is that Bain named it after his birth place, the border town of Berwick-on-Tweed, however Richard Myers, author of the book, Berwick Mechanics' Institute and Free Library has dismissed this idea, as Bain was born in Falkirk in Scotland.

Robert Bain came to Australia in 1855 when he was 24 years old. He married Susan Stewart in 1859 and they had eleven children, but more about them later.

Berwick Inn in 1858Robert was very much involved with the civic life of Berwick. He was Post Master from 1859 to1872, he was the first secretary of the Berwick Road Board which was formed in this building in 1862. He was on the board of the Berwick State School from 1862. The hotel was the venue for the first Police Court in 1865. It was also the first meeting place for the Berwick Mechanics' Institute and the Bains later donated the land upon which the Mechanics' Institute stands on. The building is one the oldest in the Casey Cardinia Region. The earliest section of the building, the triangular single storey part, dates from 1857. This is made of hand-made bricks from local clay. The two storey sections were added in 1877 and 1887.

The Bain family owned the hotel until 1909, with Susan Bain taking over as licensee after her husband’s death on February 24, 1887 at the age of 56. Robert Bain's obituary in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal can be read here but it reads in part - Connected with school, with Mechanic's Institute, with Cemetery, with everything that concerned the town ship; he was always ready to do his part...... Scandal, whether to hear or to utter, was abhorrent to him. He was full of humanity toward all, ever ready. to give honor to whom honor as due, and help them who were in need. His funeral was at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church and he is buried at the Berwick Cemetery.

The Bain family taken in the 1880s.Photo: Berwick Mechanics' Institute and Free Library by Richard MeyersWe know that Robert gets much deserved credit for his role in public life, but Susan was in the background raising their eleven children and when her husband died in 1887 and when her youngest child was only eight, Susan took over as the licensee of the Hotel and managed the business until just before her death at the age of 69 on June 26, 1908. Her obituary in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal described her as highly respected and that her many good deeds will long be remembered by residents in and around Berwick. You can read the full report here.

Death notice for Susan Bain from the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of July 1, 1908http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66147962As you can see from the Death Notice, above, by the time Susan passed away in June 1908, only three of her eleven children were still alive and two sons had died in Janaury 1908 from a heat wave - you can read about their sad deaths here, in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of January 22, 1908. Susan was born on December 28, 1838 in Scotland, the daughter of Robert Stewart and Catherine Campbell*, and she arrived in Melbourne in 1857 and as we saw before, married Robert two years later. Her sister Margaret also lived in Berwick with her husband George Brown. George owned a drapers shop in the town. Margaret died July 28, 1884 at the age of 50, according to her death notice in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal. Her only child, George was killed in 1887 at the age of 23, accidentally hit by a train whilst walking back to Berwick from Beaconsfield along the railway tracks. You can read the Inquest and description of his funeral here, in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of June 8, 1887. George Brown later married Mary Jane Patterson and built Inveresk in 1891, the house on the corner of High Street and Rutland Road in Berwick.

Here is a list of Robert and Susan's children* Catherine (born 1860 - died October 1900 - known as Kate, married John Murray Leggatt in 1878)Jane Hudson (born 1861 - known as Jean, she is the Mrs W.S Withers listed in the death notice. Jean married Walter Seward Withers in 1886, they are listed in the 1911 English Census, living in the town of Goodworth Clatford, near Andover, in Hampshire and she died in June 1926 at Andover)Margaret Anne Stewart (born 1863, known as Maggie, married Charles Allen Champion in November 1889 and died in March 1891)James (born 1865 - died January 1908)Robert (born 1867 - died January 1902)Harry Wilson (born 1869 - died April 1902)George Alexander (born 1871 - ?)Edwin Clarence (born 1873 - died 1875)Susan Stewart (born 1875 - died 1876)McCulloch Stewart (born 1877 - died January 1908)Donald Stewart (born 1880 - died January 1937)

The Berwick Inn is still functioning in the original buildings (with some extensions). After Susan Bain died, the next owner was also a woman, Helen Struth who owned the hotel from 1909 to 1948. Gordon Blackburne was the third owner from 1948-1960. During his time the Melbourne Hunt Club called in for their traditional stirrup cup before a days riding. Blackburne Square in Berwick is named after Mr Blackburne.

In this post we continue our eclectic look at some themes from our history and once again, the first letter of each theme spells a seasonal greeting! In the last post we did an historic take on Merry Christmas.

H is for Hospitals. From the 1860s, many towns local had small private hospitals run by experienced nurses and for anything more complicated (if you survived the journey) you would have to attend one of the large public hospitals in Melbourne. Around 1909, the Bush Nursing Hospital movement developed - the local community had to raise the money to fund the cost of the nurse’s salary, board, uniform and a ‘means of locomotion’. The salary was set by the Bush Nursing Association at the rate of around £80.00 per annum, the rate of pay for a hospital nurse with five or six years experience. The first Victorian nurse was appointed to Beech Forest in March 1911 and the earliest example in this area was at Koo-Wee-Rup when Nurse Homewood, started work in the bush nursing centre in July 1918; this hospital was later replaced by a Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (and later still the Westernport Memorial Hospital) The Pakenham Bush Nursing Hospital opened in February 1928 and the Berwick Bush Nursing Hospital in March 1940. The Shelley Memorial Hospital in Bunyip opened March 1966.

The official opening of the Pakenham and District Bush Nursing Hospital on Saturday, February 11, 1928. The Hospital was opened by the State Governor, Lord Somers. The local scouts formed a guard of honour. Photograph: North of the Line: a pictorial record compiled by the Berwick-Pakenham Historical Society.

The Grange, Harkaway - rear view by William Gilbert a'Beckett (1864 - 1941) William was the sister of Emma Minnie Boyd, mentioned above.State Library of Victoria Image H2008.111/10P is for the Princes Highway and other roads. The Princes Highway was originally known as the Gippsland Road but its name was changed in 1920, after the visit of Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII, then the Duke of Windsor). The South Gippsland Highway was known as the Westernport Road (or sometimes the Grantville Road). The sketch map, created by William Thomas in 1840, (see below) shows how the roads developed, naturally coming from Melbourne and then on the left running down to the Mornington Peninsula and on the right through Dandenong and down to Ruffy Brothers run at Cranbourne (the start of the South Gippsland Highway). The turnoff to the north of Ruffys that is the 'road to Mr Cloes [i.e. Clows] and onto Nerre Nerre Warren. Clow is the Reverend James Clow who took up the Tirhatuan run in 1838 - an area from Dandenong to modern day Heatherton Road which includes parts of Endeavour Hills. Nerre Nerre Warren is where the Corp of Native Police were established in 1837 (where the Police Paddocks are located)

William Thomas' sketch map form 1840Image scanned from The Dandenong Police paddocks : early use as native police headquarters and aboriginal protectorate station, 1837-1853 by Marie Hansen Fels (Department of Conservation and Environment, 1990)

P is for Pubs. Some of the earliest establishments in all areas were Hotels - used for refreshment, accommodation and as coach stops where horses could be changed over and refreshed. One of the oldest buildings still standing in the region is the Border Hotel also called the Berwick Inn in High Street in Berwick. The earliest part of the building was constructed in 1857 by Robert Bain. In 1850 the La Trobe Inn was established on the Toomuc Creek at Pakenham by Michael and Kitty Bourke. In 1855, David and Janet Bowman built the Gippsland Hotel on the Cardinia Creek at Beaconsfield and in the same year the Mornington Hotel on the corner of Narre Warren North Road and the Gippsland Road (Princes Highway) was established by J. Gardiner and later taken over by John Payne and dismantled in the 1880s or 90s. Another Mornington Hotel was established in 1860 in Cranbourne by Thomas and Eliza Gooch and around the same time the Cranbourne Hotel was also established by Robert and Margaret Duff. The name Mornington came from the County of Mornington - for land administration purposes, the State of Victoria is divided into Counties and then Parishes, most of the Casey Cardinia region is in the County of Mornington. In the 1860s the Limerick Arms Hotel was built on the Gippsland Road at Nar Nar Goon by Daniel and Brigid O'Brien and from 1857 there were various hotels in Bunyip.

Y is for Yachts, yawls and other boats that sailed in Western Port Bay - which brings us to the Fishing Industry. Some of the earliest settlers in Tooradin were fishermen. George Casey was the first fisherman and settler, followed by Jimmy Miles and then in 1876 Henry and Elizabeth Kernot came over from Hastings. They had eleven children including Isabella Poole. Isabella owned the Fishermans Cottage from 1910 to 1949. It is now the home of the Cranbourne Shire Historical Society. The Cottage is one of the few remaining examples of the fishermen’s houses that originally dotted both sides of Sawtell’s Inlet in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The last of the professional fishermen, Henry Kernot and Arthur Johnstone (whose mother was a Kernot), surrendered their licence in 1999.

Pomp Colvin's Patrobus, 1915 - a Tooradin Fishing boat.Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society photoN is for Nature. Not only was Western Port Bay an important for fishing, both amateur and commercial, but it is also an important nature conservation area. The Department of Environment website has to say about the importance of Western Port In 1982, a large portion of Western Port was designated as a wetland of international importance under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention). The site occupies 59,297 ha and consists of large shallow intertidal areas dissected by deeper channels, and a narrow strip of adjacent coastal land in some areas. [See the full report here] One of my favourite blog posts that I have done for this blog is one on Arcuate Ridges or curved sand ridges which are the remains of the walls of ancient lake beds. The town of Cardinia is on an arcuate ridge. Before we leave Nature we need to mention the world significant Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne. There are acres of remnant bushland, plus the Australian Garden that showcases the diversity of Australian flora from all climate environments - see more on their website www.rbg.vic.gov.au/visit-cranbourne

E is for Emergencies. Floods and bush fires have been part of the life of the community since European settlement. The most devastating bush fire was that of Ash Wednesday fires on February 16 1983 when many lives were sadly lost and hundreds of houses and other buildings were destroyed in Beaconsfield Upper, Cockatoo and neighbouring areas and throughout Victoria and South Australia. You can read the bald facts of this disaster here. The other emergencies we have in this region are floods, especially on the reclaimed Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp The most devasting flood took place in 1934 where up to 2 metres of water inundated the Swamp. There was also major flooding in other parts of Victoria.

Rossiter Road in Koo-Wee-Rup in the 1934 floodKoo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society photoW is for Weekly newspapers. This area is fortunate that it's social life and history has been recorded in local newspapers since the 1860s. The South Bourke and Mornington Journal was published from 1865 to 1927 when it became the Dandenong Journal. We are lucky that you can access this on Trove from 1872 to 1954. This paper covered the Counties of Mornington and the southern portion of the County of Bourke (where Melbourne is located) Other significant newspapers include the Pakenham Gazette, published by the Thomas Family since 1909. The Koo-Wee-Rup Sun and it's predecessor the Lang Lang Guardian and it's successor, The Cranbourne Sun was published from 1902 to the 1980s. Some editions of these papers are also on Trove.

The South Bourke and Mornington Journal masthead - it circulated in Dandenong, Berwick, Pakenham, Cranbourne, Brandy Creek, Grantville, Hastings, Oakleigh and Templestowe amongst other placesY is for Yallock Creek and other waterways. The first European settlement in the area took place on creeks, for the obvious reason that water was required for 'man and beast' In 1837 Captain Robert Gardiner took up a pastoral lease at Berwick on the Cardinia Creek. In 1839 Samuel Rawson and Robert Jamieson settled on the Yallock Creek and in the same year the 14 square mile (3,600 hectares) Eumemmerring Run, based on the Eumemmerring creek, was taken up by Dr Farquhar McCrae.Bridge over the Cardinia Creek, 1887.Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria photograph album, State Library of Victoria Image H2012.114/1E is for Eternal Rest or Cemeteries. We have eight cemeteries in the area - Berwick, Bunyip, Cranbourne, Gembrook, Harkaway, Lang Lang, Nangana (also called Emerald and Macclesfield) and Pakenham. You can read about them here. Naturally in the early days people were buried quickly for health reasons and so often selected the closest burial ground and thus you can see generations of local families in the same cemetery. With the establishment of a crematorium at the Necropolis in Springvale, this provided another option for 'eternal rest' and so if you can't find your relative in the local cemetery then they may well be at Springvale. My own grandfather, Joe Rouse from Cora Lynn, who died in 1954 was cremated at Springvale and had a niche there, in spite of the fact that his father and daughter were at Bunyip as well as his parents-in-law - but it seemed to have been the modern way of thinking at the time.

A is for Architecture and significant buildings. Both Cardinia and Casey have undertaken Heritage Conservation Studies. The original City of Berwick Study was done in 1993 and has been updated since and the earliest Cardinia Shire one was in 1996 with updates in 1999 to cover the areas that were previously part of the Shires of Sherbrooke and Cranbourne. What would be the oldest building in Casey Cardinia? Good question - possibly the Berwick Inn (Border Hotel) - the original section was built in 1857. I'd be happy to hear of any other contenders. What is the most significant building? Possibly Edrington, the former home of Lord and Lady Casey. Lord Casey was the Governor General of Australia from September 1965 to April 1969 and apart from being a grand mansion it is this Vice Regal connection that adds to the significance. Once again, I'd be pleased to hear of any other contenders.

Edrington, Berwick, photographed in 1978.R is for Retail or shopping. Unless you are under 35 then I don't need to tell you how shopping has changed over the years. From the mid 1850s when our towns began to develop the shops sprung up along the High Street or the Main Street - a general store, a blacksmith, a baker, a butcher would be some of the earliest stores. Later on there would be a boot maker, green grocer, hairdresser, perhaps a confectionary shop (I know it sounds fanciful but both Garfield and Bunyip both had one in the 1910s) maybe a tobacconist, and later on Banks, dress shops, specific grocery stores rather than a general store were established. This strip shopping was how people shopped until the development of the big shopping centres - Centro Shopping Centre in Cranbourne and the Endeavour Hills Shopping Centre both opened in 1979 and Fountain Gate Shopping Centre in 1980 and the first major shops off Main Street in Pakenham opened with the new Safeways in 1984.

This is an eclectic look at some themes from our history and the first letter of each theme spells a seasonal greeting!

M is for Mechanics Institutes. Our earliest Library in the area is the Berwick Mechanics' Institute and Free Library which started in 1862 and is still going strong. There were once over 1,000 Mechanics' Institutes in Victoria, many still exist as public halls, but there are now only six that still lend books, including the Berwick one. It is a remarkable achievement and there would be very few other institutions that have played a continuous role in the history and social life our our community for over 150 years.

Berwick Mechanics' Institute 1970sE is for Education. The earliest schools in the area opened in 1854 - there was a school on Captain Robert Gardiner's property at Berwick - this was the fore-runner of the existing Berwick Primary School. In 1869 it was re-located to a new building on the corner of Lyall Road and Peel Street and later moved to Lyall Road. Also in 1854 a Church of England School opened in Lyndhurst, the first teacher being Robert Davies. There were 12 boys and 10 girls at the school and they paid 2 pence per day to attend. Free education in Victoria did not come in until 1872 when the Education Act made the Government responsible for 'free, secular and compulsory' education. Students who wished to continue their studies past Grade 8, the level at which State schools originally finished, would have had to have gone onto a private school until State High Schools were established. Depending on where you lived in the region you could have gone to Warragul High (opened 1911) or Dandenong High (opened 1919) or Upwey High (opened 1937 as a Higher Elementary and became a High School in 1944). Koo-Wee-Rup (opened in 1953 as a Higher Elementary and in 1957 as a High School) and the 1960s saw Doveton High open in 1960, Monbulk High in 1963, Pakenham High in 1967 all providing local familes with closer options for continued education.

R is for Religion. When towns were first surveyed the Government set aside sites for Churches. The earliest purpose built Church in the area was, I believe, Scots Presbyterian Church in Cranbourne built in 1860, although before this services would have been held in private homes. This building no longer exists so the oldest church building in the area is St Johns Anglican Church in Cranbourne erected in 1865 and still in use today. Other nineteenth century Churches in the area that are still in use for their original purpose include St Andrews Presbyterian (now Uniting) Church at Berwick built from 1879, the Avonsleigh Church of Christ built 1887 and the Koo-Wee-Rup Presbyterian Church built in 1888 as a Wesleyan Church in Cranbourne and then shifted to Koo-Wee-Rup in 1896.

Scots Presbyterian Church, Cranbourne, built in 1860 and replaced in 1953 by the existing Church.R is for Recreation The earliest record I can find of any organized sport in the area is this advertisement (below) from 1860 of the Cranbourne Cricket Club's Annual dinner at the Schnapper Point Hotel. Schnapper Point is now known as Mornington. The Berwick Recreation Reserve was gazetted on July 14, 1863, five years before land was set aside in Cranbourne for 'public recreation and racecourse purposes' on August 3, 1868.

Y is for Yallock Creek and other waterways. The first European settlement in the area took place on creeks, for the obvious reason that water was required for 'man and beast' In 1837 Captain Robert Gardiner took up a pastoral lease at Berwick on the Cardinia Creek. In 1839 Samuel Rawson and Robert Jamieson settled on the Yallock Creek and in the same year the 14 square mile (3,600 hectares) Eumemmerring Run, based on the Eumemmerring creek, was taken up by Dr Farquhar McCrae.

Bridge over the Cardinia Creek, 1887.Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria photograph album, State Library of Victoria Image H2012.114/1C is for Councils. The first form of local government in the area were the Road Boards - the Cranbourne Road Board was proclaimed June 19, 1860 and the Berwick Road Board on September 29, 1862. These Road Boards became Shire Councils in 1868 - Cranbourne on February 24 and Berwick on May 5.

H is for Holes in the ground - quarries and other extractive industries. The most well known quarry in the area would be Wilsons Quarry at Berwick which began in 1859 and was owned by the Wilson family until 1978. It is now Wilson Botanic Park. There are other quarries in the area - the granite quarry at Tynong where the stone for the Shrine of Remembrance was sourced is a well known example and of course there have been (and still are) sand mines at Cranbourne and Lang Lang.

Quarry the granite for the Shrine of Remembrance at Tynong.The caption reads (in part) Beautiful silver-grey granite of an eminently suitable kind is available at Tynong, in Gippsland, and workmen are shown in the photograph hewing the blocks of granite from the hillside. Inset:-A fine heap of granite blocks ready for dressing. They measure from six cubic foot upwards The Argus of November 14, 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3968930R is for railways. Railways have been pivotal in the development of the Casey Cardinia Region. The Railways have always been used for personal travel - to go to work, to go into Dandenong or Melbourne for reasons such as shopping or to access medical services - but they have also influenced the location and growth of towns, transported produce to markets and tourists to holiday destinations. We have had four railway lines traversing the region and three are still operating. The earliest line is the Gippsland line to Sale which was opened from Oakleigh to Bunyip in October 1877 and fully opened in 1879. The Great Southern line commenced construction in 1887 and was fully operational from Dandenong to Korumburra by June 1891. It was later extended to Port Albert. It now only goes as far as Cranbourne. The famous Puffing Billy line, officially called the Fern Tree Gully to Gembrook line, opened in December 1900. Finally the Strzelecki line from Koo-Wee-Rup to Strzelecki opened on June 29, 1922 and closed in stages until it was completely closed in February 1959.

I is for Industry. The 'Big Three' were established at Dandenong in the 1950s - International Harverstor in February 1952, Heinz in 1955 and General Motors Holden in 1956. Between the three of them they employed thousands of people and they had an immediate impact on the area. The factories required workers and even though a Railway Station was built for GMH and opened in the October or November of 1956, it was good if there was a pool of workers living close by, thus Doveton was established as a suburb in 1954 by the Victorian Housing Commission to house these workers. The factories also accelerated the housing development in Hallam, Hampton Park and Cranbourne from where people could drive to work and park - GMH alone had a 1000 space car park.

International Harvester Factory, 1980s.S is for Space. This area is notable for the Cranbourne Meteorites. So far thirteen meteorites have been discoverd in the area in virtually a straight line from Officer to Clyde to Devon Meadows to Pearcedale from 1853 to 2008. You can visit the Cranbourne No. 12 meteorite at the Civic Centre in Narre Warren and the Cranbourne No. 13 meteorite at the Casey RACE Swimming pool in Cranbourne.

Cranbourne meteorite with the chain which was employed to pull it from its position for transport to the Melbourne Museum, 21 February 1862. Photographer: Richard Daintree.State Library of Victoria Image H36595T is for Timber Industry. The Gippsland Railway line encouraged the growth of the timber industry by providing a source of transport to cart the timber to Melbourne where it was used to build houses, fences etc and as a fuel supply. Officer and Garfield both owe their existence to the timber industry and the towns developed around the railway sidings used by the timber industry.

Carting timber at GembrookState Library of Victoria Image H32492/2163M is for Market Town - that is Dandenong. The history of our area is historically linked to Dandenong as it was a service town to the surrounding area. For instance, Dandenong had a large public hospital with specialists. It was also where the local children went to High School until local schools were built from the 1950s onwards. Dandenong was also the major shopping area for people from the surrounding area and a trip to the Dandenong market to buy clothes and other goods was a ritual for many. The Dandenong Market was also the major livestock market for the area. In the late 1940s and the 1950s my father used to drive his parents from Cora Lynn to the Dandenong market where they sold their eggs, chooks and calves (all carried on the back of the ute) and they were just one of the many thousands of small farmers who did the same. The Dandenong Market originally located on the corner of Lonsdale and McCrae Streets and opened in 1866, 150 years ago. It moved to its present location on Clow Street around 1926 and in 1958 the stockyards moved to Cheltenham Road. The Dandenong Stock Market was the last municipal owned and operated facility in Victoria, and closed on December 22, 1998. It is now a housing estate.

A is for Agriculture and farming. Small family farms, were were the main stay of the rural economy of this area from around the 1880s to the 1970s. These farms were dairy farms, poultry farms, pig farms, potato farms and market gardens. The first settlers in the area were the squatters and large (often absentee) landowners but from the 1850s the big squatting runs were broken up, Government land sales took place and other farmers moved in. Later on these farms were subdivided again (basically 1880s onwards) and this gave small farmers the opportunity to purchase land - this was historically the pattern of settlement for most of our region. It was also encouraged by government schemes such as the drainage of the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp and the Soldier Settlement Scheme after the Great War. We still have family farms in the area, but the nature of agriculture has changed and farmers need to get bigger to survive, plus there are land use competition pressures from the ever expanding Urban Growth boundaries.

My grandma, Eva Rouse (nee Weatherhead) and my aunty, Nancy Rouse, on their small family farm at Cora Lynn, c. 1927.S is for Swamp. The Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp originally covered about 40,000 hectares or 96,000 acres and is part of the Western Port sunkland. The Swamp area is basically contained in the Cardinia Shire which is about 128,000 hectares, so if you imagine that if it was left undrained, then one third of the Shire would be a Swamp. The Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department, William Thwaites (1853 - 1907) surveyed the Swamp in 1887 and his report recommended the construction of the Bunyip Main Drain from where it entered the Swamp, in the north, to Western Port Bay and a number of smaller side drains. A tender was advertised in 1889. In spite of strikes, floods and bad weather by March 1893, the private contractors had constructed the 16 miles of the drain from the Bay to the south of Bunyip and the Public Works Department considered the Swamp was now dry enough for settlement. At one time over 500 men were employed and all the work was done by hand, using axes, shovels, mattocks and wheel barrows. By 1904, over 2,000 people including 1,400 children lived on the Swamp. Many more drains have been added over the years.MERRY CHRISTMAS

I wanted to find out about Lutheran Church at Harkaway so I started with one of my key resources for the history of the area Early Days of Berwick and its surrounding districts and this (inter alia) is what the book said about the Church -In 1869 it was decided to erect a school building. Under the guidance of builders Weise and Mayer, the settlers built a substantial weatherboard building more generally known as the German Church. On weekdays this served as a Church and on Sundays, a Church..... Because the school was to be also used as a church, a bell was erected bear the building in 1869.....The earliest known Lutheran Pastor was Mattias Goethe, whose signature appears on the early marriage certificates. Then came Pastor Herlitz, who was suceeded by Pastor Schramm. Rev Hermann Herlitz was Pastor of the Lutheran Church at Melbourne and head of the Lutheran General Synod of Victoria.....At Harkaway during the Pastor's absences the service swere conducted by Dr G. Wanke. His son, the late Immanuel, acted as organist. (Early Days of Berwick, 3rd revised edition, 1979)

This photo of the Lutheran Church and bell tower is from Early Days of Berwick, 3rd revised edition, 1979.This didn't tell me when the Church was demolished, neither did one of my other key resources In the Wake of the Pack Tracks, so I emailed Lyn Bradley, President of the Narre Warren & District Family History Group to see if the Group had any information on the Church and she sent me back a great document from 1935, that they have in their Research Room. We don't know who wrote the article or where it was first published but it did tell us about the closure of the Church - In later years due to many changes, the church in which the early settlers took such an active interest was closed. The organ was sold in 1912 and the building disposed of for removal - so I assume the closure date was 1912 or a bit earlier and the building removed about the same time - however there is more about the closing date below. The following is what the document had to say about the Church -

On December 11 1869 the local members of the Lutheran Church, desirous of erecting a church building secured a site having a frontage of 100 feet to Hessell's Road. The land was purchased from the late Dr E.Wanke for the sum of 1 pound. Five trustees were elected, namely Messrs Louis Linsing, Ernest Hillbrick, John Fritzlaff, Heinrich Edebohis and Peter Erdman. As a result of a combined effort the church members erected a building which fulfilled the dual purpose of church and State school. By voluntary subscripion a bell was obtained, its weight being 210 lbs and its pleasing tone was the pride of the pioneers. For many years Pastor Herliz (whose son, Dr Herliz, lives at Cheltenham) made the journey from Melbourne to conduct the services. He was very popular and the services were always well attended. In those days the late Mr I.G Wanke was one of those who presided at the organ.The late Jacob Hessell conducted school for some time until transferred to the present school building.On July 6 1882 five new trustees were appointed, Messrs Jacob Hessell, John Fritzlaff, Rudolph Halleur, August Dubburke and Rudolph Anderson. In later years due to many changes, the church in which the early settlers took such an active interest was closed. The organ was sold in 1912 and the building disposed of for removal. Two cypress trees that were planted many years ago by the late Goulob Aurisich, are still growing on the site. At the special request of the then two remaining pioneers, the late I.G Wanke and R Anderson, the bell was retained, and being close to the cemetery. it is tolled on the occasion of funerals, and is always rung on New Years Eve. Those interested having passed away the site was developed into a 'no mans land'.Consequently, on on February 25, 1935 a public meeting was held in the local hall. Cr D Boyd presiding, and those members of the Lutheran Church who attended appointed three trustees for the site Messrs H.I Wanke, J.W Nicol and H. C Weist. Mr Wanke is chairman and Mr Weist secretary and treasurer. On Saturday last, June 8. the new trustees entered into possession to carry out out their dutiesEmulating John Batman, who had 100 years ago turned the turf with atwig on the bamsk of the Merri Creek, the chairman turned the turf on the site, but with a spade, and each trustee planted a tree to commemorate the occasion. The bell was removed, and the dangerous tower pulled down after a service of more than 60 years. Thanks to the generous spirit of Mr Nicol and several other enthusiasts, material and labour is to be provided for a new tower fro the bell which, it is hoped, will ring out the old and welcome in the New Year for many years to come.

The Bell Tower was officially opened on December 28 1935.

This is a report on the election of the Church Trustees as reported in the document, above.Dandenong Journal March 7 1935http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article213963825We have found this snippet of information in the Berwick Shire Council report in the Pakenham Gazette in 1917 (see below) which refers to the 'old Lutheran Church' so this presents two possibilities - the Church building was still there in 1917 and hadn't been removed or else the site was locally known as the 'old Lutheran Church' even though the building did not exist. Pakenham Gazette June 8 1917http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92154301To throw another possibility into the mix the Narre Warren & District Family History Group also have a copy of the Harkaway Cemetery: a brief history* in which an historic overview of Harkaway was written by Val Exell on September 29, 2000. Mrs Exell writes this about the Church - On this site the belfry and the Lutheran Church were built in 1869, the bell coming from Germany. Until destroyed by fire the building was used for school on weekdays and Church on Sundays and closed in 1912. So the 1912 closure date is confirmed but Mrs Exell says the building was burnt down and not 'disposed of for removal'

In the end whether the Church building was burnt down or removed (or possibly both) it doesn't really matter but I was a bit surprised that the Church closed as early as 1912 given the prevalence of the German ancestry amongst the Harkaway settlers, but the building was 43 years old by then and the Harkaway Hall was only three years old (it opened on June 9, 1909) so this would have been an alternate gathering place.